August 27th, 2017 by jenniferolmstead

Today was amazing. But first how my day started. It stormed all night so I slept really well, which meant I slept in till almost 7 so I had very little time for reading and prayer. I did make time for both. Breakfast was fun. Millet pancakes with onions and leaves, still have not figured out what spice it is they just call it leaves, and tomato soup. Not normal for breakfast but quite tasty and not spicy. I was a little late getting to the hospital and missed the morning worship with students and it was just ending when I got to the hospital version. Tomorrow is in English and we are making breakfast so I’m hoping to attend.
I first went to the women’s ward as I was intending to spend two days there. However, Holly walked in shortly after planning to spend the day there, so I went to another ward. I started in the labor ward, which had one who was not really in labor but dilated to 3 centimeters. So, I went to the maternity ward for a while. I rounded with the doctors. it was interesting today as the doctor that has been here a few weeks was trying to explain what was going on and why she was making certain decisions to the two new doctors that just arrived yesterday. It was quite informative for me as most of this discourse was in English. It’s the common language among the providers, though for most it is a second language. I stayed there for a couple hours. I spent the last 30 minutes holding a lady’s hand who was in labor. I went back to labor to see if anything was happening, they said no. I was getting ready to go back to maternity when the ladies whose hand I had been holding came through the door. So, I stayed with her until lunch. When I got back from lunch she was napping and I did not want to wake her so I sat with another lady who wanted to hold my hand. Both were first time moms and no family is allowed in the labor room. This makes it quite scary as they do not know what to expect. And since I was holding her hand I was asked to assist when she was ready to deliver. This was quite exciting. I have seen them before, but seeing what the nurses do here is different. For starters, the nurses deliver and the doctor often is not even in the room, the nurse cuts and stitches shut afterwards. All in all, a good experience. I spent a few more moments with the first lady, I suspected she was going to need a C-section and I was right. I left to get holly for the day and while I was waiting for her Helen and Naomi were looking for me and saw her being moved to operation theater. I promised to check in on her tomorrow. She was a nice young mom and really seemed to appreciate my just being there. I learned a new word today, saslo, which means breath in Bengali. They want to hold their breath with each contraction.
I left a little early today as we had plans. We all went to the market so we could buy the items needed to cook. We are going to make breakfast tomorrow, dinner tomorrow night, and breakfast Sunday morning. It is quite exciting. We were told that we are required to serve rice with each meal, so pancakes and rice it will be. Rather odd to me but it makes everyone happy. We had quite a time at the market. It is very crowded, as it is only open two days a week. Imagine having to walk about a mile, or more depending on where you live, to buy all the groceries you will need for the next four days and then carrying them all back. Some are able to afford a taxi, but most walk. The stores have some staples but nothing fresh. We chose to walk. To envision the market, imagine a narrow street lined with people that have a blanket spread out on the ground with a handful of different foods. We had to go to multiple vendors to find everything. And then we had to stop by a few what they consider stores to purchase the rest. The stores are smaller than my kitchen, which does not leave much room so it took two stores to purchase enough flour. The chicken was a whole other matter. We were asked if we wanted it cut up or live, we opted for cut up. We were told it would be delivered in about an hour. So, we came home, and sure enough our cut up chicken arrived. We have not opened the package to see how it was cut yet so making fried chicken may be interesting tomorrow. I was asked to come back to labor tomorrow so I will for at least a while. I really need to spend some time on the male ward so if not, much is happening I will go there. I’m planning on postnatal next week with the students.
We got home and had a little time before dinner, this is when we get on the internet. I have normally typed my blog and just have to post it, but as I went to market and was not at the house today I will be posting this a day late.